During the offseason after his junior (2010-11) year the Broncos made a trip to Vancouver for a series of exhibition games. What was supposed to be a happy homecoming for Trasolini quickly turned into a disaster. Just two minutes into the first game, against Trinity Western University, Trasolini tore the ACL in his left knee. He was sidelined for the entire 2011-12 season.
Marc Trasolini's career at Santa Clara got off to a slow start. He came off the bench for most of the non-conference slate. Despite that he averaged 22 minutes per game. However he wasn't able to turn his minutes into points, averaging just 3.7 during that span. A sore back kept him out of three straight games in mid December.
Upon his return from the injury, in a game against Stanford, he pulled down a career high ten rebounds. For the next game, against Belmont, he was given a spot in the starting lineup. In that game he set a career high with ten points and fell just one rebound short of a double double. He would go on to start every remaining game that season except, somewhat oddly, his best game of the year. On January 4th at New Hampshire Trasolini came off the bench and saw 27 minutes of action. In that time he scored 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds while only committing one foul and one turnover. Despite the effort, the Broncos lost 54-58.
Trasolini was named to the WCC All-Freshman Team that season. Trasolini led the team, and the conference, in field goal percentage that season. His 68.1% shooting from the field, fifth best in the nation that year, set the single season record at Santa Clara.
The follow up to his successful freshman campaign was an equally impressive sophomore season. Trasolini started 26 of the 32 games that season (interestingly, he came off the bench against New Hampshire). He more than doubled his scoring, going from 6.7 PPG to 13.7. Only seven times was he held below double figures. The only real drop off came in his field goal percentage. Though that was to be expected after posting the best FG% in school history on top of moving into a bigger role as a scorer.
Trasolini's junior year saw similar production. Despite being second on the team in scoring and rebounding, he was unable, once again, to secure a starting job. He began the season as a starter, but after eight games he was moved to the bench. He came off the bench for eight straight games until the start of WCC play, when he regained his starting job. Eight games later he was moved back to the bench. On February 26th at home against Pepperdine, Trasolini scored his 1,000th career point. He came off the bench in that game. Maybe it was that milestone that made coach Kerry Keating reinsert him into the starting lineup, because from that game on Trasolini was a starter.
The Broncos lost in the WCC Tournament to Saint Mary's but their 19-14 record was good enough to earn a postseason berth. Trasolini and the Broncos captured the CIT title, finishing the season with 24 wins. In the tournament, Trasolini averaged over ten points and eight rebounds per game.
As I mentioned in the introduction, Trasolini's senior season came to an early end with the ACL tear. He redshirted in 2011-12. That season the Broncos managed just eight wins, none of which came against WCC competition. While things weren't going well on the court, off the court was a different story. Trasolini graduated in March of 2012 with a degree in finance and began working towards his MBA.
At this year's WCC Tournament a video showing the All-WCC selections was shown before the games. Both Kevin Foster and Marc Trasolini made the team. It is said that, and I'm paraphrasing, that no player was more important to their team that Kevin Foster was to the Broncos. I'd argue that honor should go to Trasolini. With him they won two post season tournaments, without him they won just eight games.
So, speaking of this past season. Trasolini returned from the injury seemingly no worse for the wear. His senior season saw more games, minutes, field goals made and attempted, rebounds, blocks and points than any of his three previous seasons. He shot 55.0% from the field, his best not counting his amazing (but on a smaller workload) freshman year.
Trasolini ended his career 9th all time at Santa Clara in points and 3rd all time in blocks.
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